August 03, (THEWILL) – The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has advised domestic airlines to cooperate in areas of Codeshare arrangements.
This is just as the Minister apologised for the high cost of air tickets in the country, stressing that part of the cause was the cost of insurance and other economic factors.
Keyamo said the government is working to ensure that this whole issue of insurance is based on the local market.
He added that “we bent a bit to ensure that we give lessors the assurance that they can place the risk in the international market and then we can still let them bring their aircraft in. But the rule of Nigeria Insurance Commission (NAICOM) now, is that every risk must be placed in the local market in order to enhance our local insurance companies. But then, I apologise to say that most of them don’t have the capacity. So when you give them they go and reassure you again. And that is a double amount for them too. And that is what you are seeing in all these airline tickets and all that. The cost is too much. That is what is translated to these high fares, and ticket prices we are seeing. So we apologise to Nigerians, but then we have a lot to do. But we will do it.”
Keyamo, equally lamented the high rate of dying local airlines in the country, noting that 100 airlines have come and gone in the last 40 to 50 years in the past.
According to him, for so many years Nigeria has experienced a lot of high mortality rates in the aviation industry, in terms of airlines coming and going under.
Speaking at the 28th edition of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) Conference, held recently at Providence Hotel, Ikeja, with the theme: “Aviation Survivability Amidst Challenging Macro Economic Environment”, the Minister said “I think more than 100 airlines have come and gone under in the last 40, 50 years. In fact, we have had some AOC holders who never came at all. They have AOC, but they never want to come at all.
“And so we need to enhance their capacities. In the absence of a national carrier, in the absence of our own airlines, aviation, then we should have flag carriers within aviation who will make us proud. And we, of course, will service our reciprocal rights under all the different BASAs that we have.
“In fact, of course, we need to enhance capacity in the industry, capacity for development. Train and retrain our technical people within the industry. And ensure that we raise their standards to global standards.”
Keyamo promised that he is going to enhance and ensure strict compliance with safety standards because that is number one in the industry.
“The second, of course, would be to improve our infrastructure. Both the aeronautical infrastructure and the non-aeronautical infrastructure. The third would be to support our local operators.
“I don’t think for many years, different governments have come and gone. They have not put that as one of their focal points. I think support for our local operators is very critical. Without them, there would be no industry. We put it as one of our very focal points. Support our local airlines.”
Condemning the larger-than-life treatments given to VIPs both in and out of the airport, Keyamo said “I said, I don’t like VIPs. You know, I am coming from civil society. I’m not coming from a privileged background. So, my reputation has always been that I don’t recognise VIPs. We are all the same, as human beings. So, I don’t see any reason why we should exclude some people from paying our taxes or paying our levies in our airports.
“I told Mr President, I said, Mr President, let us eliminate all these VIPs coming to the airports without parking in front of gates. I said, accept the President and Vice President. He said, why should I be exempted? Put me and the Vice.”
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
